Big restructuring at Tokyopop inc. drop in manga publishing

Paul

Paul

Ghost of Animes
Administrator
Yesterday, wide-reaching manga publisher Tokyopop <a href="http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-06-03/tokyopop-to-restructure">announced their plans</a> to restructure their company, essentially splitting into two seperate entities, one to handle "new media" called "Tokyopop Media LLC" (including <a href="http://www.animeuknews.net/news/1623/tokyopop-moving-ahead-with-lament-of-the-lamb-live-action">a number of movie adaptations</a> for their comic properties) and the other, "Tokyopop Inc.", will continue with the straight up goal of publishing comics/manga. To this end, they have announced that 39 employees will be/have been made redundant and that they will be scaling back their publishing activities from 470 volumes per year to 225-240. It's unknown just how (or even if) this effects the UK branch of Tokyopop.
 
I just hope that cut in volumes produced is coming from all the duff stuff they have licensed, as although not the best manga company out there they do still have some decent stuff I pick up.
 
I'll have no complaints so long as I can pick up the next two volumes of Welcome to the NHK. Don't know if there's much else from them that I'm following.
 
Wildcard said:
I'll have no complaints so long as I can pick up the next two volumes of Welcome to the NHK. Don't know if there's much else from them that I'm following.
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As NHK's nearly finished and they've already got release dates out for one of the volumes it should be safe. I heard it was mostly manwha they were going to be dropping.
 
Only manhwa I've read so far were Angry and Ragnarok. As the first series has finished and the second is on a hiatus for quite some time now, it wouldn't worry me, but the do publish samurai deeper kyo and a few other series I wanted to collect.
 
I suppose the market just couldn't sustain that level of saturation anymore. I don't have any interest in most Tokyopop titles so this doesn't really affect me at all.
 
Good grief...they'd been pumping out 470 volumes per year...?

Other than Rave, I couldn't even tell you what they release... =/
 
The latest news I've seen on ANN

Mike Kiley, the former Tokyopop publisher who will soon fill a "key senior executive role in Tokyopop Media," told the ICv2 retail news source that Tokyopop will ship 225-250 print releases from September of 2008 through next year after its restructuring. 20-22 releases are planned per month during that timeframe. As a result, Tokyopop's total publishing output for 2008 will be in "the very low 400s," which is a drop of 80 titles from the previous plans. Kiley declined to specify how each of Tokyopop's different product lines will be affected.

ICv2 also confirmed that the 39 employee layoffs represented 35-40% of the Tokyopop's workforce in the United States, and Kiley acknowledged that people involved in the direct production of books were the most affected. Tokyopop will be contacting specific creators under its contracts, after sending a message to all of them on Thursday night.
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At this moment in time I don't really have any ongoing tokyopop series except for Fruits basket, but it isn't good to see another anime/manga company in a possibly awkward position.
 
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